Three times Ed had to have the Captain's talk with Gordon
by DieAstra
Summary: Gordon keeps screwing up and Ed keeps yelling at him. It's his job as a captain. Even if it's hard.


**Three times Ed had to have the Captain's talk with Gordon**

\- 1 -

The buzzer of his office door chimed. Ed hesitated for the split of a second. He knew who this was. He had ordered him to come. He didn't look forward to the talk but it needed to be done.

"Come in!"

The door opened and revealed Gordon. 5 PM on the dot, Ed had to give him that.

"You asked to see me?"

"Take a seat." Ed pointed to one of the chairs opposite his desk. Gordon sat down, clearly wondering what this was about. That he didn't even seem to have a guess made Ed angrier than it should have. He took a deep breath, then he got up and started to pace.

"You know how important this ship and its mission are to me. I've told you. And I won't allow anyone to mess with this. No-one." The unspoken _'not even you'_ hung in the air between them. "Understood?"

"Understood."

"Yesterday you got the both of us into a very dangerous situation. Drinking and flying is an absolute no-go and you really should know better. But what is worse, I told you – I _ordered_ you to stop and you didn't."

Ed paused for emphasis.

"Repeatedly. That is basically insubordination and you know what that means."

The color had gone from Malloy's face.

"Ed…"

Ed put up a hand. "I'm not finished yet. I will have to put a reprimand into your file. On your first day on board. It's out of my hands, the ship you almost rammed put in an official complaint. I already had a long talk with Admiral Halsey earlier today. Suffice to say he wasn't pleased. He had been skeptical when I wanted to have you as helmsman but gave the green light anyway. And this is how you honor his trust in you?"

Ed sighed, then finally stopped his pacing and sat on the edge of the desk, looking Gordon straight into the eyes. His friend was a picture of misery, sunken shoulders and all.

"And what about me? Please don't make this any harder for me than it already is. I want this to work, and for it to work I need you by my side. But there will have to be rules. From now on you will address me either as Captain or Sir, like the rest of the crew does. I might reconsider this rule later when we all get to know each other better but I can't have anyone think that I am playing favorites here."

"I get it. You're the captain now."

Gordon looked uncomfortably away. Ed offered him his hand.

"I hope you really do. Alright, I said what I had to say. Let's start anew. See you on the bridge tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

\- 2 -

This time Ed didn't even wait until Gordon was seated. As soon as the door was closed he couldn't hold back his anger any longer.

"What the hell were you thinking? Putting a piece of Yaphit into the buffet?"

"But Kelly already chewed us out on that. Why are you now taking the same line?" Gordon crossed his arms in defense, still standing. If he was waiting for the order to sit, Ed was happy to let him stew for a while.

"That's still 'Commander Grayson' for you. And you don't look properly chewed out, that's why. I brought you on board, I feel it's my personal responsibility to talk some sense into you. Gordon, really…"

Ed sighed then took great effort to calm himself. Yelling would do no good. But Gordon had to understand…

"Do you even know how lucky you are that the piece ended up in Bortus? Have you even stopped to think what would have happened if anyone else of the crew ate him? You could have killed someone. Let that sink in."

Ed stopped talking for a moment, giving Gordon time to think. He needed the break to think himself. There was something, at the back of his mind; he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Something nagging. Something dark. He shoved it aside for the moment.

"We have a ship to run here! This isn't one of your simulations where you can start again if something goes wrong. This is the real world. People get hurt. And I won't allow anyone of my crew…"

Ed stopped mid-sentence. With a bang he suddenly realized why he felt so strongly about this situation. Because it brought up bad memories. Because he had been on the receiving end of "pranks" that went out of line. He hadn't been lying when he told that Moclan leader that there was an anti-bullying law named after him.

And they didn't hand these out for nothing, you know. Ed wasn't the kind of person to dwell on it, he had left it all behind and buried deep. So deep that he never even told Gordon about it. Perhaps he should. Perhaps knowing that his friend suffered from pranksters like himself would finally open his eyes. But this wasn't the place for such a conversation.

Maybe later, over a beer. When Gordon had had enough time to think.

Gordon stared at him open mouthed, as if he had wanted to say something but the words died on the way out. Ed realized his sudden silence must have come as a shock to him, more than the yelling. He closed his eyes and counted to ten until he trusted his voice to not crack when he spoke again.

"… I won't allow anyone of my crew to be hurt, physically or emotionally, under my command. Which is something I should not even need to spell out. It's common sense. There's enough danger around us here this far from home, we don't need to add any more ourselves."

Ed suddenly felt tired. He wiped his hands over his face then got up and went over to where Gordon was still standing. Ed stood right in his personal space, looking him directly into the eyes. He saw something different there. He saw regret. It was a start.

"Do you want to say anything before we finish?"

"I… I don't know. Is there anything I can do to make up for it? I feel terrible."

He looked terrible as well. They could work with that.

"Right. The making-up part. First you will apologize to Yaphit, and you will mean it. Whether or not he'll forgive you we will see. And then you will assist him with whatever mundane engineering thing he is doing at the moment. And be it that you are just holding his tools. In your free time. And I hope it will make you realize that he is not just a 'thing' to be made fun of but a person with feelings. Dismissed."

Ed suddenly had to put some space between them. His throat was tightening. He turned his back to Gordon and stared out of the window. Behind him he heard the door quietly open and close.

Finally he was alone with the turmoil of his emotions.

He needed a drink.

\- 3 -

The door chimed. Gordon came in with his usual swagger and sat in the visitor chair straight away. He knew the procedure by now. This didn't make it any easier for Ed. Time to take the bull by the horns.

"Did you really tell Bortus he'd look better with a moustache?"

"Yes, I did. So what?"

"But did we not have this exact conversation just one week ago? About the things we do or do not tell Bortus? And by we I mean you. You know how he takes everything very literally. You should be a bit more considerate. I mean, come on, man."

Ed exasperatedly raked a hand through his hair. He didn't like how pleased with himself Gordon looked. At all.

"The Moclans are very powerful members of the Union. We can't… ridicule them like that. It's not honorable."

"But he did look better! It suited him! Don't you think so too? So where's the problem? No harm was done. This time." Gordon folded his arms defiantly, a move that Ed started to recognize by now.

Well, he had a point. The moustache was gone now, Bortus had implied that Klyden had made him shave it off. But if Ed was honest with himself, his face did look somewhat naked without it. Funny how you could become used to something like that in such a short time.

But that was not the point here. The point was that – again – Gordon had interrupted smooth ship operations for personal fun, and Ed was starting to get tired of it.

"All I'm asking you is to think before you open your mouth to say anything to him. And then think a second time. And a third, if necessary."

Gordon leaned forward, elbows on his knees now.

"Fine, I'll do it. But I liked it better when we were still the weirdest ship in the galaxy."

Ed had to smile despite himself. He shooed Gordon away.

"Go annoy someone else before I change my mind. Dismissed."

With a loud sigh Ed fell into his chair. He wondered why he hadn't taken the subject of how to deal with stupid but funny friends. Maybe Union Point should start a course on that.

The End


End file.
